Button and pin clasp



(No Model.)

G. H. MERRILL.

BUTTON AND PIN CLASP.

No. 474,025. Patented May 3, 1892.

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I'TNEssEE.

wemxfw NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE Il. MERRILL, OF NAUGATUCK, CONNECTICUT.

BUTTON AND PIN CLASP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,025, dated May 3, 1892. Application tiled November 27, 1891. Serial No. 413,234. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. MERRILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Naugatuck, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Button and Pin Clasps for Suspenders, tbc.; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

rIhis invention relates to certain new and` useful improvements in clasps, and has for its object to provide an end clasp for suspenders and similar articles, which will cooperate with a button after the manner of a loop or button-hole, but which may also be secured to garments or fabrics having no button thereon by means of a suitably-arranged pin.

My invention further contemplates a construction of clasp which shall fully protect the pin-points and hold them securely, and which shall in general be simple in construetion and cheap to manufacture; and with these ends in View my invention consists in the construction and combination of elements hereinafter fully explained, and then recited in the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may fully understand its construction and operation, I will describe the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof, and in which- Figure l shows a suspender-end with one branch attached to a button and the other free; Fig. 2, an edge view showing the clasp attached to a button 5 Fig. 3, an edge view showing the pin open; Fig. 1, an edge view showing the pin-clasp as engaged with a piece of fabric. Fig. 5 is a plan view of a modification, and Fig. G a plan view of the blank of Fig. 5 before bending to shape.

The same numerals and letters denote the same parts in all the figures.

The body7 of my clasp consists of a plate l, from each side of which project ears a. (See Fig. 6.) These ears, when bent to completed form, as appears at the right hand of Fig. 1 and at Fig. 2, form sockets 2 opening toward each other and supported on arms 7 away from the face of the plate sufficiently to admit a flat button of the size ordinarily used upon trousers and similar garments. The lower end of the plate is rolled, as at 3, to form a tubular hinge connection for a bifurcated pin 4 of spring-wire, whose legs are bent outwardly above the hinge connection and then curved to their points, as seen at Fig. l. The plate may be slotted, as at 5, for attachment to the suspender-web A; but as an alternative I provide the plate with wings 6, which are adapted to be closed upon the web and hold the same.

The clasp, when used with a button, .may be slipped over it with the pin in its closed position, the button entering freely between the sockets and the face ofthe plate, and resting when seated with its lower edge against the hinge and its rear face against thelegs of the pin, the purpose of this being to bring the strain directly upon the button itselt` and not upon the fabric. In the absence of a button the legs of the pin are lirst compressed laterally until they clear the sockets, and the pin is then opened on its hinge. (See Fig. 3.) It may then be pushed through the fabric to which the suspender is to be attached and the pin-points compressed so as to pass between the sockets, when they are permitted to expand unto said sockets, where they are securely held by their spring quality. (See Figs. l and et.)

One of the prominent features of my invention is the double utility of the pin, which acts both to engage and retain the button when used in connection therewith, and to pierce and hold the fabric when no button is employed.

I do not wish to be confined to the precise construction herein shown, since the details thereof may be varied without departing from the essentials of my invention.

I claiinv l. In a fastening of the character described, the combination, with the base-plate having a loop at its upper end for the attachment of a suspending-strap, of a pair of sockets projecting from the opposite upper corners of the plate and supported at a sufficient distance from its face to permit the entrance of IOO 'a button between them and said plate and with an opening between said sockets, and the U-shaped pin hinged to the end of the plate and adapted to be held by engagement with the sockets, the Whole arranged to operate in connection with a button or as a pinfastening, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The blank consisting ofva base-plate for a combined pin and button fastening, the

same consisting of the central portion l, forming the base plate, the projecting ears a, adapted to form the sockets 2, and the Wings 6, the Whole constructed and' adapted to operate as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEO. I-I. MERRILL.

Witnesses:

WILSON H. PIERCE, ROBERT E. HALL. 

